They're back. Missing a couple of old faces such as Prados (5.3 from the Russian judge) García and not-so-Bueno Grimal, but they're back. The men in black returned refreshed and raring to go and didn't take long to hit the headlines. Although they were told in their pre-season briefing to go easy on the cards this year, some habits die hard (a bit like the Monty Python chartered accountant who wanted to be a lion tamer but thought he would work up to it slowly, starting with becoming an insurance broker). All in all 62 cards were shown, including two red, which was round about par for the course last season. López Nieto came out on top this week with nine yellows and a red in the bad tempered match between Valencia and Real Madrid. One of the yellows went to Madrid manager Vicente Del Bosque who accused him of not protecting his star players, and captain Fernando Hierro asked him after the match why he had sent off Figo and not any of the Valencia players.

Last year's white stick winner Daudén Ibáñez upset Osasuna's manager Miguel Angel Lotina for failing to observe a hand ball by Berizzo in the area and other fouls. All that did was earn Lotina a yellow card for his troubles. Protests too from John Toshack about Carmona Méndez, who decided not to send off Bilbao defender Rios in a vital part of the match, and from Charly Rexach about Losantos Omar for awarding a penalty against Barcelona but not giving two in their favour. Plus ça change.... (27.08.01)